Posts Tagged With: zebras

I’m going to attempt this live blogging thing today as mom, Tito taxi, and I make our way to Nairobi in the car. Almost exactly one year ago I did the exact journey, except in reverse.

Here’s what our journey will look like:

Mwanza to Nairobi

Of course it’s pouring rain this morning, but I suppose it will make me miss Mwanza a little less…

Don’t leave without me mom!

Grrrr, that’s my annoyed dog sound. I tried to upload a photo but I guess we’re already too far away from Mwanza and so the connection is too slow. Don’t worry, mom’s taking lots of photos and will upload them just as soon as she can!

6:43 am

We’re just past Kisesa, where mom works at the Health Center, and the sun is rising in front of us. It’s super pretty but also reminds me how early it is. This puppy needs his sleep!

Brilliant sunrise through the rain-soaked windshield

6:58 am

I just had my first cow sighting of the day and we all know how much I love cows…HOORAY!

Cow, YES!

7:10 am

Our car problems have started just outside of Magu. There was a funny noise as we went over one of the many speed bumps on the road from Mwanza to Sirari. Tito taxi pulled over and sure enough, the car was broken. Also, mom and I are a spectacle so we’ve gathered a bit of a morning crowd of assorted drunk men. Eww.

I’m pretty sure that all these men were drunk. On principal, mom refused to give them money to buy beer at 7:30 in the morning

8:15 am

The C-V joint on Tito’s car broke just outside of Magu so we had to pull over and Tito went to town to find a new car part. And my brilliant mother accidentally locked the keys in the car. So now we’re standing outside on the road surrounded by people who are fascinated by me and my mom. Wish us luck!

The broken C-V joint, whatever that means

9:08 am

Guess who got to see more cows while we were waiting for the car to get fixed? This little doggie, that’s who! Oh, and then I tried to eat some of their poop, which got me in trouble with mom. Oops!

Cows! And check out those horns. JEALOUS!

9:20 am

While we were waiting for the car to be fixed (it’s going on 2 hours now), a nice man from a little shop nearby brought over some of the tiny fish called daga and let me have some. Amazingly enough, this is my first time eating daga since moving to Tanzania, even though most local dogs eat daga everyday. They were interesting. Salty and slightly crunchy, but I didn’t have time for breakfast before we left so they were good enough for me!

Trying daga

10:41 am

We’re finally on the move again, YAY! We’re just now crossing the ‘Narrow Damaged Bridge’ which makes mom and I laugh every time we see it.

HaHa, I wonder how long this bridge will stay damaged?

11:19 am

Now we’ve passed Speke Bay, one of my favorite places in Tanzania. Too bad we can’t stop in and say hello to everyone. They’re also doing roadwork in this area and we have to drive on a dirt road (I’m unsure if you can actually call it that). This road gets Tito taxi’s car all dirty, something which really, really annoys him.

Um, I suppose this is a road

11:28 am

We’re driving past the Serengeti Western Corridor gate. I really wish I can go inside, because I love me some animals, but I guess I’m too much animal for a National Park.

11:35 am

Zebra sighting. This basically makes my day.

ZEBRAS!!!!

1:58 pm

We’ve finally arrived in the border town of Sirari. Mom and Tito taxi do something at an office while I wait in the car. Lots of people gather around to stare at me, so i go and I hide underneath the seat so they can’t make fun of me.

2:49 pm

It took us almost an hour to do all the nonsense required at the border and we’re now on the Kenyan side of the border in a town called Isebania. Mom and Tito taxi had to go and do more stuff in another office and again I had to stay in the car. Then they went to a funny little office where mom argued with a man about something and eventually forked over some money. He then proceeded to sit behind a weird, loud machine and made a paper that Tito taxi had to keep with his car in case there was an accident. They also made me go to the Veterinary office where they looked at all my paperwork. Mom told them that I was healthier and better vaccinated than any human who crossed the border so they sent us on our way.

Funny man, funny machine

4:45 pm

There’s Christmas carols on the radio in Kenya. I almost forgot this is why mom and I are going to America!

5:13 pm

A crazy or drunk person (or maybe both) jumped on our car in a town called Sotik. I did not like this man so I barked until he got off and was chased away by some other people outside.

6:16 pm

We’ve been driving for 12 hours now, but then we see a double rainbow and all of us are instantly happier.

Smile, it’s a rainbow!

6:31 pm

More zebras alongside the road. We were going to fast to get a photo, but I promise you, they were there and I saw them. Mom says we’re near the Maasai Mara so that’s why there’s zebras here.

8:17 pm

We’re now passing the Great Rift Valley overlook, but unfortunately it’s dark so we can’t see it. Luckily I got a nice view last year when we drove this way so I’m not too upset.

The sun is setting on our long day

11:15 pm

I’m finally here in the Nairobi Hilton with some food and some water and I think that’s totally awesome. Mom’s too tired to type up all the stuff that I made her write down today after we lost our internet connection, but I promise I’ll make her fill in the rest of the trip with photos first thing tomorrow!

The third leg of our trip wasn’t nearly as exciting as the preceding four days, but we did get to stay in a neat place called Nakuru.

The drive was like all the others and by this time I was pretty bored with looking at cows from the window so I decided to rest for much of the drive.

Lucky me, Sleeping!

I did manage to wake up for a few exciting things along the way, like big, fat zebras along the side of the highway.

ZEBRAS!

We also drove through a town named after me, perhaps they’ve been following my blog 🙂 The town was called Mtito Andei and mom made sure to get a photo of me with my sign.

It's my town: Mtito Andei!

We finally got to the town of Nakuru around 9pm, but then we had to enter a National Park called Lake Nakuru National Park. Apparently, National Parks don’t allow dogs, which is confusing for me since there are wild animals everywhere. Since we were so late, the National Park was already closed, but our hotel was inside, so this was a problem, or a matatizo, as we say in Swahili. It took Mr. Marcel a lot of bargaining with the guard to even let the humans enter the park so late. Mom had me all wrapped up in one of her scarves and so the guard asked about mom’s “rafiki ndogo“; he thought I was a human baby, I’d never been so flattered!

So eventually, the Park allowed us to enter and we drove around Lake Nakuru to the Sarova Lion Hill Lodge where we slept for the night.

My mom is back from her weekend trip to Nairobi, so now I can post again since she took her computer and the internet with her. Her journey home from Nairobi was so much easier than mine!

We arrived in Nairobi from Amsterdam at 9:30pm on New Year’s Eve. Mom needed to be in Mwanza, Tanzania by January 3rd, but we still hadn’t figured out how to get there. Unfortunately Precision Air is the only airline that regularly flies from Nairobi to Mwanza and they hate little dogs like me, so flying wasn’t an option. Luckily we met a great taxi driver named Michael in Nairobi and he agreed to drive us from Nairobi to the Kenya/Tanzania border where we would meet my namesake and godfather, Tito the taxi driver.

Me in Tito the taxi driver's car

We set out from Nairobi on the morning of January 3rd. We drove through the Great Rift Valley and saw Masai herders. It was the biggest yard I’ve ever seen!

The Great Rift Valley

Masai herders with the biggest animals I've ever seen!

It took us almost 5 hours to drive from Nairobi to the border town of Isebania. In some sections communities built speed bumps so high that the car would get stuck on top. During the day, they helped to push us over, but during the night, it’s much more dangerous. Mom said they even steal things from people this way. Good thing we were driving during the day!

Using dad's neck pillow on the long car ride

Once we got to the border we easily crossed into Tanzania and the town of Sirari. No one even asked to see my paperwork! We met my godfather Tito at the border and transferred everything into his vehicle to finish the rest of our drive to Mwanza.

We got a mini-Safari as we drove from the Kenyan border to Mwanza since we were on the edge of the Serengeti. I thought the cows from the Great Rift Valley were cool until I saw zebras in the Serengeti. These giant striped creatures just blew my mind! Mom says that elephants are even bigger and I can’t imagine what I’ll do when I see one.

Zebras in the Serengeti

After driving for 4 hours and spotting zebras, wildebeest, and baboons along the way, we made it to Mwanza! That first night we stayed in a wonderful hotel on Lake Victoria called Ryan’s Bay Hotel. After a 10 hour journey, I was beat and super happy to relax in my new home.